We first read about a wannabe soldier – he’s got all the kit and read all the books!! This is not his first hunt but it will be his first kill and he relishes the fact that he will get noticed at last. Just why is he taking revenge and what will his followers on the dark web get to see? In Swaledale, Kirsty Emily Jackson is out camping for the first time. She is finally reclaiming her life after ending it with her bully of a husband Daryl and is enjoying the freedom after getting hooked on the idea of wild camping.
A relative newcomer to the area is DCI Harry Grimm, temporarily transferred from Bristol. His quiet evening is destroyed by an unexpected call from his estranged father warning him that he is in danger. Grimm wants nothing to do with the man who killed his mother and attacked his brother years ago. That same night Kirsty is killed and the murder is recorded for the killer’s “fans”. Once again Grimm’s night is disturbed when DS Matthew Dinsdale phones him in the early hours to tell him a body has been found on the Yorkshire moors by the Swaledale Mountain Rescue team. The body belongs to a female backpacker with a stab wound to the throat.
Jim Metcalf, a dedicated and very keen PCSO, complete with land rover and border collie pup, drives Grimm to the scene to await the doctor, pathologist and scene of crime officers. It’s a mess. The name Stacy has been carved into the woman’s forehead and written on her tent in blood. Ominously, the body has been found on the old Corpse Road, a pathway used centuries ago to take the dead to church for burial.
Forensics find the woman’s purse and the contents identify her as Kirsty. So who is Stacy then? Burnt photos suggest a rift with her husband making him the likeliest suspect but it just doesn’t feel quite right. We hear again the words of the killer as he revels in what he has just done and the many more who are going to get what’s coming to them. Just who are the Ultimate Gentlemen?
Back at their office in Hawes community centre and with the rather unwanted help from Detective Superintendent Swift, the detectives review the evidence, some of which is quite baffling. As their enquiries progress, the husband looks more and more to be their prime suspect, but could there be a whole lot more to this case?
Grimm has a great team of officers to work with, including PCSOs who are given proper credit for the work they do and are actually involved in the investigation instead of being sidelined to the boring stuff. It says a lot about Grimm that this team has taken to him so quickly, and despite his somewhat blunt manner at times they know they have a good boss.
Grimm’s former training in the paras and some of the team’s outside interests and local knowledge all play a vital part in this case as they battle to save a life and stop a killer.
Although this is the third book in the series, all of which I can thoroughly recommend as superb crime novels, it can be enjoyed perfectly well as a stand alone. The characters are well introduced and easy to take to, the plot is excellent and draws the reader along skilfully to a smashing conclusion. It’s definitely one of those books you pick up and don’t put down again until the final page.
Wensleydale cheese with cake will probably never be Grimm’s cup of tea but I might just give it a try though!
Corpse Road is published by Weirdstone Publishing, and is available now on Amazon.